Donald Trump, the president of the United States, announced on Thursday that his administration would file an appeal of a federal judge’s decision that stymied his effort to enforcing a temporary ban on birthright citizenship.
“Obviously we will appeal it”, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the ruling by Washington state District Judge John Coughenour, who said the president’s order was “blatantly unconstitutional”.
Trump’s attempt to encircle birthright citizenship was temporarily slowed by a federal judge on Thursday.
One of the most contentious executive orders that Trump signed shortly after taking the oath of office for a second term is now up for a 14-day stay, according to the ruling.
During the hearing in Washington state, US District Judge John Coughenour was alleged to have said, “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is”, said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
Trump told reporters his administration would “obviously” appeal the ruling, while the Department of Justice said it would defend the executive order, which a spokesman said “correctly interprets” the US Constitution.
The spokesman said, “We look forward to giving the Court and the American people, who are desperate to see our Nation’s laws enforced, a full merits argument.”
The 14th Amendment, which states that anyone born on US soil is a citizen, enshrines birthright citizenship in the US Constitution.
It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”.
Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.
Brett Shumate, a Justice Department attorney, was chided by an incredulous Coughenour over his defense of Trump’s constitutionality.
“Frankly, I have trouble understanding how a bar member could vehemently deny that this is a constitutional order,” Coughenour said.
“It just boggles my mind”.
– ‘ On a whim ‘ –
Following a string of lawsuits brought by 22 states, two cities, and numerous civil rights organizations, the decision was made.
The states that participated in the legal proceedings praised it.
No president can alter the constitution on a dime, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
The decision is “the first of many wins as my office fights instances of executive overreach and any possible illegal actions the new administration may take.”
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said Trump’s order was “un-American”.
After the ruling, he said, “Birthright citizenship makes clear that citizenship cannot be based on one’s race, ethnicity, or where their parents came from.”
“It’s the law of our nation, recognized by generations of jurists, lawmakers and presidents, until President Trump’s illegal action”.
Trump had already acknowledged it was likely when he signed the order, so the legal challenge was not surprising.
He has asserted repeatedly that the United States is the only nation in the world with birthright citizenship, claiming that Canada and Mexico are two of the other 30 countries that do so.
The 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 as the United States sought to reunite itself after the Civil War, has been accepted law for more than a century, according to Trump’s opponents.
In the case of Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco-born Chinese American man, they cited an 1898 US Supreme Court ruling.
Wong visited family members in China, but he was denied entry because he was not a citizen.
The court affirmed that children born in the United States, including those born to immigrants, could not be denied citizenship.
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